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• New US benzene broker TnS links with PCB

  Two emails dropped into the Blog inbox this morning announcing the launch of TnS (Trade n Services), a new US benzene broker in the person of Aruanan Mastenbroek. He will be covering the US and co-operating with Wim Buiter of PCB (Petrochemical Brokerage... Posted Oct 01 2008, 09:04 AM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, trading, gossip, EPCA, Houston, PCB, Antwerp, TnS

• EPCA youth report

  It may be true that the chemical industry fails to attract a young crowd, but the EPCA youth chapter was out and about in Monte Carlo this week with the enthusiasm of those who can look daisy-fresh on three hours' sleep. Some old favourite venues... Posted Sep 29 2008, 11:07 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, gossip, EPCA, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Jimmy'z, McCarthy's, youth, Zebra Square, SAS Bar

• Darkness and neglect at Le Balmoral

  On the way to dinner at Le Saint-Benoit, we pass the dark and shuttered hulk of the former Balmoral Hotel, looming darkly over the bay. This was a haven to past generations from Shell, Integra and then ICIS, famed for its 1950s wallpaper and candlewick... Posted Sep 29 2008, 11:04 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, gossip, ICIS, EPCA, Shell, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Hotel de Paris, Integra, Le Balmoral

• EPCA to become "more exclusive"

  One rumour going the rounds at EPCA on Monday was that after the recent merging of the Annual Meeting and the Distribution conference, there was a feeling amongst the EPCA's board members that the event had become too large. According to one well... Posted Sep 29 2008, 11:00 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, gossip, EPCA, Monaco, Monte Carlo, IPCA

• The Monte Carlo years are over

  So it looks like it's true. As the Blog reported here in June, EPCA is to abandon Monte Carlo, never to return. Next year it's in Berlin, and in 2010 it's Vienna, and after that it will not be coming back, one board member told industry players... Posted Sep 29 2008, 01:38 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: business travel, conferences, gossip, EPCA, Vienna, Monaco, Berlin, Monte Carlo

• The smell of EPCA

  What is the defining smell of EPCA? Is it coffee and Gauloises on the warm summer air at the Café de Paris? Is it Hermes Eau d'Orange Verte soap and body lotion from the hotel bathrooms? Eye-watering perfumes mixed with hairspray amongst the porn... Posted Sep 28 2008, 05:10 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: trivia, conferences, EPCA, Conference, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Jimmy'z, Hermes, McCarthy's, Cafe de Paris

• Sleepless in Seattle

  Seattle, Washington, USA was the venue for the big fertilizer conference of The Fertilizer Institute ( TFI ) last week, and three of the ICIS fertilizer team made the long trip there from Houston and London. A trip memorable for its coffee and the unusual... Posted Sep 15 2008, 06:05 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, gossip, ICIS, seattle, TFI

• Fabulous food at ICIS Brussels training seminar

  The best thing about this week's ICIS training seminars in Brussels in the EPCA offices, better even than all the train travel, is undoubtedly the food. It is fantastic. Catered by a local restaurant in the Montgomery suburb of Brussels, it is a sumptuous... Posted Sep 12 2008, 08:06 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: business travel, conferences, ICIS, EPCA, Brussels, pizza, Rotterdam, Napoleon, ICIS Training

• Countdown to Monaco - EPCA minus 2 weeks

  Monte Carlo 's Grimaldi Forum may be heralded as the new hub of EPCA , but I'm curious to see whether the master plan to shift us all from the Fairmont is going to work. We've had a couple of previews of the Forum for the Opening Reception... Posted Sep 12 2008, 09:52 AM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: trivia, conferences, parties, EPCA, Conference, Monaco, Grimaldi Forum, Fairmont, Monte Carlo

• Have suit, will travel

  "I suppose I'd better get my suit out for EPCA," said one US petrochemical conference veteran on the phone to me yesterday. "It's all casual for US conferences, unless you're giving a presentation." What a sartorial gulf... Posted Sep 09 2008, 08:52 AM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: trivia, fashion, conferences, gossip, EPCA, Conference, Berlin, Monte Carlo, casual dress, suits, Air France

• Speed-dating for the chemical industry

  Three weeks till EPCA in Monaco, and already everyone's agendas are full. From breakfast meetings with breakfast, pre-breakfast meetings, and standing breakfast meetings, each of the three core days is staked out with hourly or half-hourly meetings... Posted Sep 08 2008, 09:31 AM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, Olefins, EPCA, Conference, meetings, Monaco, Fairmont, Nice, Monte Carlo, speed-dating

• Chemicals banish bad hair days

  Chemicals that banish bad hair days garnered the most press coverage from Sunday's American Chemical Society 's conference in Philadelphia. While "one of the world's biggest gathering of scientists" debated air pollutants and blood... Posted Aug 19 2008, 09:38 AM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: chemicals, trivia, fashion, conferences, Olympics, Philadelphia, American Chemical Society, hair

• Football and chemical freebies

  I'm sitting in a football stadium on a mild and sunny Saturday afternoon in this cool damp English summer, watching our team in what is only its third game this season as all the expensive new players fail to score a single goal. Watching football... Posted Aug 18 2008, 01:06 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: conferences, Sabic, ICIS, EPCA, price reporting, corporate life, football, LyondellBasell, Neste

• HALO video conferencing - it's the future for petchems

  More hi-tech gadgetry was on display when the Blog visited a major petrochemical company this week for a three-way global video conference. My colleague Peter S and I sat chatting long-distance in a state-of-the-art HALO suite , where the experience was... Posted Aug 11 2008, 09:11 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: business travel, conferences, hi-tech, corporate life, Halo, Dyson Airblade, video conferencing

• Chemical travellers test Heathrow Terminal 5

  Two emails from British Airways have just dropped into the Blog's inbox, begging me to start travelling through London Heathrow's Terminal 5. A full-page advert in UK newspapers yesterday spelled out the same message. It looks like a lot of us... Posted Aug 11 2008, 09:02 PM by ICIS Chemicals Confidential Filed under: business travel, conferences, gossip, Conference, British Airways, adverts, IFA, fertilizers, Terminal 5